Hubble Images Solve Galactic Thread Mystery

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Hubble Images Solve Galactic Thread Mystery

At the center of the Perseus galaxy cluster is NGC 1275, a galaxy surrounded by mysteriously glowing gas filaments. How do the vast, apparently delicate structures keep their shape? Why don't they form stars? Why don't galactic tides tear them apart?

Nobody knew – until now.

The structure is provided, say University of Cambridge astronomers, by magnetic fields in the filaments' threads.

The researchers reached their conclusion by studying images returned by the Hubble satellite. Their findings appeared today in Nature.